Sunday, December 19, 2010

Have a Little Faith

Have a Little Faith, a nonfiction story by Mitch Albom, starts with an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom’s old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy. Feeling unworthy, he insists on understanding his rabbi better, which throws him back into a world of faith he’d left years ago. Meanwhile, he starts the story of Henry, a poor black Christian kid growing up in Detroit. Mitch continually visits his rabbi, Albert Lewis (also known as "The Reb"), and starts to learn more about his as a man. Meanwhile he discusses Henry's life growing up, and him getting involved with drugs and organized crime. Mitch learns how the Reb accepts other people and religions for what they are. Henry goes to jail, gets married, and gets addicted to his own drug. Late one night, Henry barely avoids death. He starts worshipping God, and starts his own parish in a broken down church. He helps homeless and poor, just like himself. Now Mitch meets him for the first time. He is skeptical of him at first, but later helps them get food and heating. Mitch continues to visit the Reb, who dies. The story ends with Mitch's eulogy, and the message that faith can overcome great obstacles.
1.Have a Little Faith talks about many faiths coinciding. How can many faiths coexist? If different faiths have different beliefs, can they all be correct?
2.When Mitch asks this of the Reb, he explains that just as there are a variety of trees, multiple faiths all come from the same God (page 160). What do you think about the Reb’s explanation? Can dialogue and debate about different beliefs, as the Reb argues, really enrich one’s own faith?

15 comments:

Brandon Messner said...

1. If you really think about it, the messages of most religions are virtually identical. You know, you should do good deeds and you should always have faith no matter what you are faced with in life. This is how many faiths coexist and these different faiths can all be correct. They have the same basic tenets (VOCAB WORD! WHAT NOW!?)

2. I can agree with Reb's point. I suppose this debate could enrich ones faith because knowing about other faiths makes you more confident in your own.

Abby M. 1-2 said...

First of all, this is a really, really awesome book in my opinion and I would totally reccomend it!

1.I think that seperate faiths can absolutely coexist. All faiths believe that God is above our full understanding as humans, so that means that no single religion has it all right. Also, I think each religion has truth in it, and many religions have very similar things they believe. I think that if people took a closer look at each other, we would find we have more in common than we think.

Nice Brandon, you are replete with vocabulary knowledge.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

I think that of coarse different faiths can exist as long as the people that make up these faiths are willing to coexist. Most religions as Brandon said center around doing good deeds and believing in God no matter what. There are slight differences and as long as people are willing to set aside these few small differences coexistence is quite possible.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. I agree with everyone above. Different faiths can coexist because many beliefs are shared by each group. Sure some may differ but if they can get a along then of course they are able to coexist.

Natesa W. 7-8 said...

1. Yes, I think that many different religions can coexist. Who are we to say that there is only one god and that our god is correct? There need to be other religions in the world to create balance.
2. I think debate about beliefs definitely enriches one's own beliefs. It helps people understand their own and other religions better. It can also push someone even closer to their own religion by learning about others.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

1. I agree with what people are saying "many faiths can coexist." Many faiths are very similar if not identical. However, as Nicole said, it isn't really about the different views, but whether people can except one another.

Millie W. 7/8 said...

1) Well a lot of christian faiths have some of the same principles, but I don't believe their all completely correct.
2) Well if you debate other religions feasibility and facts, it seems that you would be more likely to antagonize that religion because they have different beliefs. Rather you should just rejoice that they all worship god.

Spencer P. 1-2 said...

1. The most important part about faiths is the principles they believe in. Although they may not all agree on how the world was created or what happens after one dies, they all agree that people should do the right thing, be kind, and be the best person they can be.

Unknown said...

1. I think that many faiths can coexist. Many are very similar and also have different beliefs and they all can be correct.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

2. I think that debating about different faiths helps people become aware of the different religions. It helps people live together better, and shows similarities between the religions. I agree with Natesa, it helps one understand their own beliefs (through others).

Ashlyn W. 7-8 said...

1. Many people think that all religions are the same. Although there needs to be respect or others and their beliefs, I do not believe that all faiths are the same and a lot of them have many differences. If all faiths were the same there would not need to be so many different options.

Ashlyn W. 7-8 said...

2. I think that debating about faiths makes a person realize how different each individual faith is. It can be good because it can make you realize this but also it might not be because it could cause you to doubt your own faith.

Nathan S. 7-8 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nathan S. 7-8 said...

2) Debating about faiths is a fruitless action, and even the idea of it is near oxymoronic. Debate requires one to support assertions with facts that religion simply cannot provide; the core ideas of all religions are unprovable ideas ("faith"). And that's not even addressing the problem of how personal one's religion is. Countless people have lost their lives due to religious dissent (all of the crusades, the Spanish inquisition, the Salem which trials...). Even today it's nearly impossible to point out a fallacy or contradiction in the bible to a Christian without being antagonized. So for there to actually be a debate about religion, the religions being debated would have to be based in fact (which would, at best, turn the religion into a philosophy) and the ones debating would have to be mature about their arguments (which is very rarely found).

Mrs. Sherwood said...

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